In general, for viewing and timer-recording programs provided by a broadcast station or a cable television station, it is widely known that a user activates an electronic program guide (EPG: Electronic Program Guide) by operating a terminal device such as a television set or a recorder and then selects a desired program from among a plurality of displayed programs so as to view or timer-record the selected program. Also, systems whereby the user sends and receives specific messages by means of a cellular phone or a personal computer to carry out a remote recording from a remote location are coming into use. In either of these cases, the user finds the program which the user wishes to view or record, and executes an operation by sending instructions to the terminal device owned by the user.
On the other hand, another method has been suggested whereby preference information of a user owning a terminal device is collected based on an operation history of the terminal device, and telecast programs are automatically recorded using the program information registered by another user having the same preference (see Patent Reference 1, for example).
In the case of the above invention, a user 1 who uses a terminal device designates a user 2, by an identification, who is a third party. The preference information and registered program information of the designated user 2 are shared via a server connected to a network. Then, according to the preference information and the program information, telecast programs are automatically recorded.
Moreover, while the multi-channelization is being developed by program providing companies, such as broadcast stations and cable television stations, reediting and reorganizing an electronic program guide of each program providing company have become complicated. For example, local programs closely connecting with residential areas need to be inserted, and a broadcast time of a live sporting event needs to be corrected because of time-zone differences (mainly North America). Also, since the capability of displaying the electronic program guide is different for each terminal device that receives broadcasts from the program providing companies, fine adjustments are required, such as adjusting a text length to be displayed on the electronic program guide. To address these needs, systems have been suggested which determine errors in data of the electronic program guide in advance before the program providing company sends the data of the electronic program guide to terminal devices of general users (see Patent Reference 2, for example).
In the case of the above invention, program information which requires a fine adjustment in a to-be-displayed description is automatically extracted out of the data of the electronic program guide to be sent by the program providing company, according to the capability of a predetermined terminal device to display the electronic program guide. Then, the extracted result is shown on a screen of a dedicated terminal. Accordingly, those who are in charge of managing the data of the electronic program guide of the program providing company can make the fine adjustments to the program information by operating this dedicated terminal.    Patent Reference 1: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2006-50662    Patent Reference 2: Japanese Patent Publication No. 2974784